On Such a Full Sea By Chang-rae Lee

Beautifully written, brilliantly crafted and thoroughly thought-provoking, this book is a masterpiece.

The story takes place in an American about 150 years in the future in which the separation of class and race is more profound than imaginable, there’s little hope of improving your station in life almost everyone can expect to die from a C-illness.

The heroine of the story is a 16-year-old girl named Fan who escapes B-Mor (the former Baltimore) in search of her boyfriend Reg, the only person anyone knows of who is C-free, who has gone missing. Through Fan’s journey, as told by the people of B-Mor, we learn more about this new America as she comes across people from “the counties” (the outcasts, basically) and also the Charters (the elite).

While Fan herself shows that the government can’t control her we also learn that other people, in less dramatic ways, are beginning to rebel by throwing food the fish in the ponds (strictly forbidden!), shaving their heads, painting graffiti pictures of Fan and Reg.

This is a beautifully written book – I had to stop a few times to read passages over again because they were just that good – and incredibly thought-provoking.

You can listen to my interview with Chang-rae Lee here.

5 of 5

What do you think?

Note: I did receive a free copy of this book from the publisher.